Is Killing Wrong? by Mark Cooney (Studies in Pure Sociology)

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Synopsis

"Thou shalt not kill" is arguably the most basic moral and legal principle in anysociety. Yet while some killers are pilloried and punished, others are absolved and acquitted, andstill others are lauded and lionized. Why? The traditional answer is that how killers are treateddepends on the nature of their killing, whether it was aggressive or defensive, intentional oraccidental. But those factors cannot explain the enormous variation in legal officials' andcitizens' responses to real-life homicides. Cooney argues that a radically new style ofthought—pure sociology—can. Conceived by the sociologist Donald Black, pure sociologymakes no reference to psychology, to any single person's intent, or even to individuals as such.Instead, pure sociology explains behavior in terms of its social geometry—its location anddirection in a multidimensional social space.

Is Killing Wrong? providesthe most comprehensive assessment of pure sociology yet attempted. Drawing on data from well overone hundred societies, including the modern-day United States, it represents the most thoroughaccount yet of case-level social control, or the response to conduct defined as wrong. In doingso, it demonstrates that the law and morality of homicide are neither universal nor relative butgeometrical, as predicted by Black's theory.